Cherry Hill, NJ – Nearly a thousand people came out to the annual “SIGHTS AND SOUNDS” Youth Festival this weekend at St. Thomas Greek Orthodox Church. More than 13 churches participated in this annual event that featured a multitude of contests in the arts and entertainment fields, including photography, painting, sculpting, baking, dance, and theatre, to name a few.
St. Thomas Greek Orthodox Church hosted the original event that started about 28 years ago, making it arguably the “longest running arts and entertainment event for a Greek community nationwide”; “The Greek Orthodox Folk Dance & Choral Festival,” hosted by the Metropolis of San Francisco, is 37 years old and much larger. However, it focuses specifically on dance and song, whereas Philly’s renowned “SIGHTS AND SOUND” event covers much more.
If you’re a painter, sculptor, baker, photographer, or someone who loves other aspects of the art world, then this is the place to be. The annual event features an array of talented Greek-American young artists competing in a friendly competition like no other.
Marina Ana Pantelous, age 15, from St. Thomas, has participated in many of the contests and continues to take part every year. She earned 2nd place for her multi-themed “Frappe and Beach Cake,” which she crafted over two days. When asked why she created it, she said it was one of her memories of summertime in Greece.
Zoe Nikolos, age 13, from St. Luke, won 1st place with her vanilla cake decorated in blue and white to resemble a Greek Orthodox church. She completed her cake in three days.
After 17 consecutive years in Cherry Hill, NJ. The annual event has shifted around the Delaware Valley from church to church. This past weekend, the youth festival returned home to St. Thomas Greek Orthodox Church, where it originated. Although this was a two-day affair that included judging the arts on Friday, the big performances took place in the church gym during the evening.
English Theatre, Greek Theatre, and group folk dancing were the highlighted events that everyone packed the gym for. While upstairs, in the AHEPA room, musical duets, choral singing, and solo instruments were performed throughout the day, to mention a few.
Panels of judges sat with pencil and paper at each event, providing scores that were accumulated for each church across a variety of categories. Late into the night, final announcements were made for all category winners, and the overall team/church winners were announced.
The annual event is hosted by the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of New Jersey.